Xak'Kirgonne
“Honor. Family. Strength. Without these, we would be useless. Honor informs our lives and gives structure to our society. It enables us to resist chaos and enslavement. Family teaches us the virtues, the ideals that make us minotaurs. It sharpens the horns or it cracks them. Finally, strength is that by which we triumph. It is the raw power of life. Individually, each of these ideals is valuable—but not strong enough. We forge them together . . . and when this is done, we are well nigh unbeatable.” ~Kiruth eth Simat, Tutor and Axemaster to the Imperial Family Minotaur Philosophy The unique combination of honor, family, and strength has resulted in a philosophy of life that is best formulated in the words of the humans: might makes right. While human cultures claim, for the most part, that this idea is unworkable, the minotaurs have successfully built their whole system of law and society around it. They recognize that all society anywhere is, in fact, based on the idea that might rules, and that strength does not necessarily emanate from the muscles. After all, there are several varieties of strength, such as intelligence, cunning, and the ability to twist minds to one’s own purpose. Minotaurs hold that a monarchy is the rule of a family which was strong enough to seize power, that a democracy is the rule of the mass of people, more willful than the single individual, that a theocracy is the rule of a priesthood intelligent enough to be able to twist the populace to its own end, and that a dictatorship is government held by the strength of the dictator’s arm. The minotaurs have come to realize this not through the usual linear thought processes that characterize most human thought, but rather through a system of thought that might best be described as labyrinthine. While minotaurs might have bull’s heads, they do not have bull’s brains. Their wits are those that the Gods originally intended intelligent, analytical, and devious. Their building style emphasizes their thought process, as it does for so many races. Where humans and dwarves build along straight lines, suggesting logical, linear thought, where the elves build in a pre-planned order that suggests the randomness of nature, emphasizing their closeness to the land, the minotaurs build their cities and towns so as to suggest a gigantic maze, one in which only minotaurs might feel truly at home, where nonminotaurs are quickly overwhelmed by the twists and turns. The minotaurish philosophy is not limited to “Might makes right.” The minotaurs also pay homage to the idea “Anything which serves the state is right.” They understand that, in order for their empire to succeed, they must serve the state first and foremost. If personal ambitions conflict with those of the state, personal ambitions are to be set aside for the sake of the state (although it is possible for one to serve the state and further his own ambitions simultaneously). This particular practice is not only accepted, but encouraged, for it insures that the individual members of the race will constantly be making it stronger. The minotaurs intend for their race to rule, and they will go to any lengths to guarantee that it does. They mean, in the end, to exterminate or subjugate the other races of Vir'Exalon in order to rule unopposed. One might infer that the minotaurs feel that other races exist only to be taken for all they are worth. This is correct. A minotaur reasons this way: If you are weak enough and foolish enough to be deceived, then you deserve to be deceived. The minotaurs will certainly never accept anything less than an equal position with any other race. if they are on a less-than-equal footing, they will use any means at their disposal to destroy the system from within or without, as long they regain their freedom. After the Bondage War, the minotaurs have found that they value their freedom enough to die for it. The Minotaur Code * Might makes right. To be weak is to be wrong. * Anything that serves the state is right. * Honor is everything in life. To be without honor is to be without life. Family and nation before self. The individual means nothing next to these two. * It is dishonorable to kill another minotaur except in fair combat. * A minotaur’s word is his bond. Once given, never broken. Any who do so are to be publicly dishonored. * Stamp out anyone other than minotaurs using minotaurs as slaves. Do not rest until they are destroyed. * Accept all responsibility for your actions. Honor To the minotaurs, there is nothing of more paramount importance than honor. They adhere rigidly and fanatically to their moral code, for if they do not, it could mean their destruction. They have carefully worked out this code over hundreds of years, although to the casual observer, it might appear that it had been conceived overnight. With deeper examination, however, one can see that it extends beyond just superficial levels. The honor priority for a minotaur is first the land’s honor, then his family’s honor, and finally his own honor. A minotaur is considered the sum total of all three of these. The reasoning goes like this: if his nation is dishonored, then his family has not been playing its part in upholding the state. Therefore, he himself has not been exemplary in his behavior, for he has allowed the honor of his family to slacken. Thus, each minotaur carries a heavy burden, for not only does he have to worry about his own honor, he also must carry the responsibility for his family, and from his family, the responsibility for the honor of the nation. The Cities: * Kotharilia (Capital) * Theragala * Morgatha * Trillothas * Vinthas